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Jan. 15, 1957 J. c. THOMAS ETAL APPARATUS FOR HA DLING A PRINTED FABRICWEB DURING DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRINT COLORS THERE Filed March 5, 1.956

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TORS JAMES C. THOMAS 6 BY GRAVES 7: GORE ATTOH'NEYS Jan. 15, 1957 J. c. THOMAS ETAL 2,777,312

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING A PRINTED FABRIC WEB DURING DEVELOPMENT OF THEPRINT COLORS THEREON Filed March 5, I956 3 Sheets$heet 2 IN VEN TORSJAMES C. THOMAS E; GRAVES T. GQRE Jan. 15, 1957 J. c. THOMAS ETAL 2,777,

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING A PRINTED FABRIC WEB DURING DEVELOPMENT OF THEPRINT COLORS THEREON 3 Sheets- Sheet 3 Filed March 5, 1956 1 20 "3VAR/ABLE s un cor/7km.

INVENTORS 7AM$ C. THOMAS 6 GRAVES T. GORE BY 7 s 641405) APTTORNE Y6APPARATUS FOR HANDLING A PRINTED FABRIC WEB DURING DEVELOPMENT OF THEPRINT COLORS THEREON James C. Thomas and Graves T. Gore, Trion, Ga., as-

signors to Riegel Textile Corporation, a corporation of DelawareApplication March 5, 1956, Serial No. 569,630

2 Claims. (Cl. 68-5) This invention relates to the development or agingof textile print colors of the type that require treatment with steamand acid vapors for development after printing, and more particularly toan improved apparatus or means for carrying out the developing treatmentthat may be employed effectively to develop print colors during theprinting operation, and that is much simpler and smaller and lessexpensive than the aging equipment now commonly in use so as to providevery substantial operating economies.

Heretofore it has been conventional practice to age print colors in aseparate operation following printing of the colors, the printed fabricwebs being transferred from the print machines and subsequently aged ina separate handling step. The equipment employed for this separate agingstep, although normally arranged for handling several printed webs at atime (i. e., about four webs) has characteristically been quite largeand expensive, the usual aging equipment being about twentyfour feetlong, with a height of about eight or nine feet and a width of aboutfive feet.

The aging means provided according to the present invention has acomparable height and width, but requires a length of only aboutthirty-six inches, so as to provide a reduction of at least 50% in floorspace requirements even though it is arranged for treating only oneprinted web at a time. In addition, because the aging means of thepresent invention can be employed for aging the print colors during theprinting operation, it can be located within the space normally setaside, in any event, for the printing machine installation so as ineffect to require no additional floor space at all for the aging step.

Moreover, the aging means of the present invention, because of itssmaller size, requires substantially less structure for training theprinted web through the aging step and accordingly allows a verysubstantial reduction in first cost for the aging equipment, as well asproviding for a more advantageous supervision of the aging treatment indirect relation to the printing operation and affording an immediatecheck on the printing operation by developing the print colors as theyare printed so that any defects in the printed pattern become apparentimmediately and can be corrected before any substantial amount of goodshave been printed containing this defect.

These and other features of the present invention are described infurther detail below in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a printing machine installationincorporating an aging means arranged according to the presentinvention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged end elevation of the aging means shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a right side elevation corresponding to Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged end detail of the pair of reel rolls preferablyemployed in the aging means for feeding the print goods during aging;and

nited States Patent 2,777,312 Patented Jan. 15, 1957 Fig. 5 is afragmentary sectional detail taken substantially on the line 5-5 in Fig.4.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates a usualprinting machine arrangement in which the printing cyclinder is shown at10 with a fabric web W drawn from a supply roll R trained thercaroundover the usual rubber printing blanket 11 past a series of printingrolls 12, each of which are conventionally supplied with a print colorfrom a color box or fountain such as is indicated at 13. Afterapplication of the print colors by the printing rolls 12, the web W isthen trained from the printing cylinder to a series of drying cans 14about which it is wrapped successively to effect adequate drying of theapplied print colors.

Upon leaving the drying cans 14, the web W, according to prior practice,has normally been discharged directly into a storage cart C, such as isillustrated in Fig. 1, so that it may be transferred for separatehandling through the aging step. According to the present invention,however, the web W is taken directly from the drying cans 14 through anaging means, as indicated generally by the reference numeral 15 in Fig.1, so that it is completely aged upon reaching the storage cart C anddoes not require the separate handling for this purpose that hasheretofore been necessary.

The arrangement of the aging means 15 of the present invention is shownmore in detail in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings in which his illustratedas comprising an enclosed frame structure 16 forming a treating chamberhaving a rounded bottom 17, to provide for drainage, and a peaked top 18terminating at a relatively narrow slot opening 18' through which theweb W is received for development and discharged after development. Asthus arranged, the aging means 15 may be located to receive the web Wfrom one of the web handling rolls 19 of the printing machine and todischarge it to a succeeding web handling roll 20. p

The web W upon being received within the aging means 15 is directedfirst to a series of idler rolls 21 over which it is festooned todispose the web W initially so that it may become saturated with thesteam and acid vapors that are maintained in the treating chamber 16, asis described more in detail further below, and have the development ofthe print colors thereon commenced and partially accomplished as aresult of this vapor saturation. The web W is drawn over these idlerfestooning rolls 21 by a pair of reel rolls 22 that are formed, as shownbest in Figs. 4 and 5, with spaced reel bar members 23 securedperipherally on spider end plates 24 and arranged on mounting shafts 25so that the pitch circles of the bar members 23 are disposed tangent.The mounting shaft 25 for one of the reel rolls 22 is fitted at one endwith a drive pulley 26 and is connected at its opposite end through ageared connection at 27 to the other mounting shaft 25 so that the reelrolls 22 are driven in timed relation with the respective bar members 23staggered and intermeshing, although remaining free of engagement, toprovide adequate traction on the web W for drawing it over the idlerfestooning rolls 21 These reel rolls 22 also serve to deliver or feedthe saturated and partially developed web W into a succeeding portion ofthe aging means 15 in which its rate of travel is slowed appreciably toallow time for complete development of the print colors before the web Wis discharged from the treating chamber 16. The above describedarrangement of the reel rolls 22 is of further particular advantage inthis respect, because the web W must be turned loose in order to slowits rate of travel and, as it has become saturated with the stream andacid vapors so as to be damp, it would tend to wrap and become fouled atthis point in most usual types of feed roll arrangements,

3 whereas the reel rolls 22 act to turn free nicely a hanging length ofthe web W because they afford no substantial surface to which it cancling.

The succeeding portion of the aging means in which the rate of travel ofthe web W is slowed to allow for complete aging is arranged toincorporate aJ-tube structure having entrance leg and foot portions 28and 29 thereof formed by spaced rod elements 30 and 31, this J-tubestructure being disposed with its entrance leg portion 28 dependingvertically below the reel rolls 22 so that a slack length of the web Wwill tend to plait in the J-tube foot portion 29, as illustrated in Fig.2, and will feed around this foot portion 29 only from the weight of theplaited web as it builds up in the entrance leg portion 28, so as toaccumulate a substantial length of the web W in the foot portion 29 andreduce its rate of travel very substantially. It will be noted that thespaced rod elements 30 and 31 employed to form the J-tube structure arearranged to extend in the direction of travel of the web W through thestructure, and they serve the particularly useful purpose of providing aguiding action for the plaitcd portion of the webW that supports theaccumulated web laterally and maintains it properly aligned in thedirection of travel. These rod elements 30 and 31, as is the aging means15 generally, are preferably formed of polished stainless steel so as toprovide for smooth progress of the plaited portion of web W throughJ-tube foot portion 29, and these rod elements 30 and 31 are alsopreferably tubular in form so that they can be connected for steamheating to prevent any condensation of the treating vapors thereon andto ease further the travel of the plaitcd web W thereover.

Beyond the J-tube foot portion 29, the web W is taken away for dischargefrom the aging means 15 by the pull thereon of the previously mentionedweb handling roll 20 of the printing machine in relation to which theaging means 15 is located. It will be recognized that the web W asreceived by the aging means 15 from the web handling roll 19 of theprinting machine will be traveling at the printing speed, and that thereel rolls 22 must pull the web W over the idler festooning rolls 21 atthis same speed. For this purpose, the reel rolls 22 have the drivepulley 26 thereat connected for driving, as indicated at 32 in Fig. 2,from the web handling roll 19, which Will in turn be driven for carryingthe web W at the printing speed, as normally arranged in the printingmachine installation. The discharging web handling roll 20 is alsoconnected for driving from the web'handling roll .19, but thisconnection incorporates a variable speed control, as indicated in Fig. 2at 33, by which the roll 20 can initially be slowed so as to allow adesired length of the web W to accumulate inplaited form at the J-tubefoot portion 29, and then readjusted to the printing speed so as tomaintain the accumulated web length within the aging means 15substantially constant. the aging means 15 can be operated to provide anaging time of from about one to five minutes, with the portion of thistime ahead of the reel rolls 22 varying from about 10 to 60 secondsdepending upon the particular printing speed.

The steam supply to the aging means 15 is arranged so as to heat allstationary web contacting surfaces and thereby maintain these surfacesfree of condensation, as well as to supply steam vapor as a carrier foracid vapor in maintaining a treating atmosphere within the chamber 16.For this purpose, the steam supply line is shown at 34 in Fig. 2connected through a T fitting 35 from which one leg 36 runs to tubulardraw bars 37 arranged to form the entrance slot 18' in the peaked top 18of the aging means chamber 16. The steam supply leg 36 is connected atone end of the adjacent draw bar 37, and this adjacent draw bar 37 is'in turn connected at its opposite end to the other draw bar 37 so thatsteam is supplied through both of themin series and is thenpipedtherefrom through a connection at 38 to a T fitting 39 By thisarrangement,

from which branches 40 and 41 run, respectively, to a second pair ofdraw bars 42 located vertically below the first pair 37 to form a secondentrance slot through a battle hood 43 aranged within the peaked top 18of treating chamber 16 to retard the rate of discharge of treatingvapors therefrom. At their opposite ends this second pair of draw bars 2is connected through a T fitting 44 (see Fig. 3) to a conduit 45 runningto an injector jet 46 disposed within a stand pipe 47 having a fillerleg 48 at which acid may be introduced for vaporization and introductionto the treating chamber 16 through a perforated vapor distributor 49 bythe action of the steam jet 46.

The other branch 50 of the steam supply line from the T fittings 35extends through a throttle valve 51 to a further T fitting 52 at whichit branches into separate legs 53 and 54 to further stationary draw bars55 and 56, re spectively, over which the web W is trained for directingit to the idler festooning rolls 21 in one case and from the J-tube footportion 29 in the other. These draw bars 55 and 56 are in turn connectedat 57 and 58 to manifold headers 59 and 6G for the J-tube rod elements30 and 31, respectively, that in turn terminate at lower headers 61 and62, each of which are fitted with drain lines 63 and 64 arranged todischarge at the rounded bottom 17 of the treating chamber 16 fordraining therefrom through a suitable drain trap 65. The treatingchamber 16 is also fitted with an exhaust port 66 at its peaked topportion 18 above the baffle hood 43 therein, the exhaust port 6r:

being provided for connection to a disposal stack or other,

comparable means for taking off the spent treating vapors. Also, thetreating chamber 16 may be fitted with inspection windows as at 67 andany other conventional operating conveniences desired.

The aging means 15 arranged as described above may be operated with asupply of process steam, and the aging operation is carried out withinthe treating chamber 16 at substantially atmospheric pressure and at atemperature substantially at but not more than 212 F. The acid vaporsused inthe treating atmosphere are conventionally vapors of acetic acidusing an 34 commercial grade acid diluted in equal parts by volume withwater. During normal operation, the steam injection and acid vaporintroduction is maintained continuously at a rate sutTicient to obtain aslight bleeding of steam from the entrance slot 18' at the peakedchamber top 13.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes ofillustration only and is not intended to be limited by this descriptionor otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for aging a printed fabric web to develop print colorsthereon that require development by steam and acid vapor treatment afterprinting, said apparatus comprising a treating chamber, means formaintining a developing atmosphere of steam and acid vapor in saidchamber, and means for plaiting a substantial length of said web in saidchamber and thereby slowing its rate of travel sutficiently for completecolor development within said chamber while allowing said web to becontinuously delivered to and discharged from said chamber at arelatively rapid rate, said plaiting means comprising a J-tnbc structurehaving entrance leg and foot portions formed by spaced tubular elements,said entrance leg portion being arranged vertically in said chamber forreceiving said Web and directing it in plaited form to said foot portionunder the weight of plaited web standing in said leg portion, and meansto direct steam throng said tubular cl-s merits and thereby heat saidelements so as to prevent condensation thereon of vapor from saiddeveloping atmosphere.

2. Apparatus for aging a printed fabric web comprising a treatingchamber for containing an aging vapor atmosphere, and means for plaitinga substantial length of a printed fabric web in said chamber, saidplaiting means having entrance leg and foot portions formed by spacedtubular elements arranged in two parallel rows that extend transverselyof said chamber in an extent at least equal to the open width extent ofsaid web, said entrance leg portion being arranged vertically in saidchamber for receiving said web and directing it in plaited form to saidfoot portion under the weight of plaited web standing in said legportion, and means for heating said tubular elements internally so as toprevent condensation thereon of vapor from said aging atmosphere.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS CraigOct. 15, Cook Nov. 25, Converse May 25. Dameron May 22, Gallinger Dec.25,

FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Oct. 24, Great Britain Mar. 17,

